Lifting, Carrying and Working with Children
The core module — lifting and carrying infants and toddlers, cots, change tables, floor work, low furniture, sleep rooms, buggies, meal times, settling a distressed child, and pregnancy.
Last reviewed September 2026 · Part of Manual Handling Training for Childcare and Early Childhood Educators
Key learning points
- Lift and carry infants and toddlers with a secure hold and the child close to your body
- Use cot, change table, high chair and buggy set-up to remove or reduce lifts
- Manage floor work and child-height furniture without long stooped or static postures
- Use children's growing independence as a manual handling control
- Respond safely to a distressed or resisting child
- Understand how pregnancy changes manual handling risk
Children are unpredictable loads
A twelve-month-old commonly weighs around nine to ten kilograms; a three-year-old around fourteen or fifteen. Those numbers are not the problem. The problem is that the child reaches for you before you are ready, arches away as you lift, throws their weight to one side to see something, or goes limp in protest. Australian WHS law does not set a weight above which a lift becomes unsafe — the risk comes from the sudden and awkward forces a moving child produces, repeated all day at heights designed for the child rather than for you.
Before you pick a child up
- Ask whether the child can walk, climb or step up instead — for most toddlers, most of the time, they can
- Tell the child what is happening and give them a moment to be ready — a surprised child struggles
- Get down to them: squat or kneel rather than bending from the waist to floor level
- Face the child square on with your feet apart, and take hold under the arms around the chest, or under the bottom and behind the back for an infant
- Never lift or swing a child by the hands, wrists or forearms — it strains your shoulder and can injure the child's elbow
- Bring the child in to your chest before you stand, then stand with your legs
Carrying
- Carry the child in front of you against your chest, or supported on your forearm with your other arm around them, so the load is close and centred
- The one-hip carry is convenient for short distances, but it twists your spine and loads one side — swap sides, and do not carry a child on your hip for a whole walk
- Keep carries short: carry to the nearest safe place to put the child down, not across the whole yard
- Carry an infant in a car capsule with two hands close to your body, or better, lift the baby out and leave the capsule
- Do not carry a child up or down stairs while holding anything else; keep one hand for the rail
Two children at once
Picking up two toddlers together — one on each hip, or one on the hip and one in the arms — is a high-force lift of an unbalanced, moving load with no free hand. It is common when two children are upset at once, and it is one of the more frequent causes of back and shoulder injury in this sector. Pick up one child, kneel to the other, and call a colleague. Where a service allows a double carry at all, it should be a deliberate exception in the procedure, not the habit.
Cots, change tables, high chairs and buggies
Everyday equipment and the set-up that reduces the lift
- Cots
- Use adjustable-base cots and keep the base high for infants who cannot yet sit or pull up; lower it as soon as they can. Lower the side where the design allows before lifting in or out, and step in close so you are not reaching over a rail. Drop-side cots that are loose, sticky or modified are a hazard for the child and should be reported; never lean over a raised side to lower a sleeping infant if the side can come down.
- Change tables
- Choose tables with built-in steps so toddlers climb up with you beside them, guiding and supervising — you never take your hand or eyes off the child on the steps or the table. For infants, an adjustable-height surface set near your elbow height avoids stooping. Lay out nappy, wipes, cream and a bag before the child is on the table so you never turn your back or twist to reach.
- High chairs and meal seats
- Take the tray off before lifting a child in or out. Prefer low chairs that older toddlers climb into themselves. Where a high chair is used, stand close, face the chair and lift the child straight up and towards you rather than over the side.
- Prams, strollers and buggies
- Apply the brake before loading. Let children who can climb in do so with your hand for balance. Load the buggy where it will be pushed from, not in a corner you then have to drag it out of. Push with straight wrists and elbows in, and take kerbs by tipping onto the rear wheels rather than lifting the front. A loaded multi-seat buggy is not lifted by anyone — unload it or find another route.
- Stretcher beds and cot mattresses
- Carry two or three stretcher beds at a time, not the whole stack; store them on a trolley or in a rack at waist height rather than on the floor in a corner.
Floor work, low furniture and getting up and down
- Kneel on one knee or half-kneel with one foot flat rather than bending at the waist to floor level — it keeps your back upright and gives you a way to stand
- Vary your position: sitting cross-legged, then half-kneeling, then on a low stool — no floor posture is fine for forty minutes
- Sit on a low stool, cushion or kneeling stool for mat time and group time rather than on the floor with your legs folded under you
- At child-sized tables, sit on an adult chair or a stool pulled up to the table rather than perching on a child's chair or stooping from standing
- Get up using your hands on your thigh, a stool or a piece of furniture; do not spring up from cross-legged with a child in your arms — put the child down first, stand, then pick them up from standing height
- Ask for adult-height chairs and stools in every room; there is a strong case that every room needs at least one comfortable adult seat for feeding, settling and reading
- Raise what you can: an infant feeding on a raised change surface or your lap in an adult chair is easier than feeding on the floor
Independence is a risk control
Every step a toddler climbs, every time a preschooler puts on their own shoes, every child who walks to the mat instead of being carried, is a lift you did not do. Encouraging independence is good practice under the learning frameworks and it is also the single most effective manual handling control in a service. Build the time for it into the routine so children are not carried simply because carrying is quicker.
Sleep rooms and settling. Settle children in a chair, not standing and rocking — a comfortable adult chair beside the cots lets you pat, hold or feed without a sustained standing hold. Where your service's practice allows, settle a child in the cot with a hand on their back rather than in your arms, so there is no lowering movement at all. When you do have to lower a sleeping child, set the cot up first (base height, side down if possible), hold the child against your chest, step in as close as the cot allows, bend at the knees and hips, and keep the child against you until the last possible moment. If a cot is deep and the side does not lower, a stable step stool beside it can bring the rail below your hip.
Settling a distressed child. A child who is screaming, arching and kicking is a load you cannot hold securely, and picking them up mid-tantrum is how educators get kicked, head-butted and wrenched. Unless immediate safety requires it — the child is about to run onto a road or hurt another child — get to their level, lower your voice, and wait. If you must move a resisting child, hold them firmly against your body with your arms around their chest and their back to your front, keep them low and close rather than up on a hip, and move only as far as the nearest safe space. Your service's behaviour guidance policy sets what is and is not acceptable, and it comes first.
Pregnancy and manual handling
Pregnancy changes your balance, loosens your ligaments and moves your centre of gravity forward, so the same lift places more strain on your back and pelvis than it did before, and fatigue comes sooner. Educators who are pregnant should tell their director early so tasks can be reviewed — fewer lifts, more time in the older rooms, no double carries, no lifting buggies, and seated settling. Follow your own health professional's advice about lifting, and ask for the room to be adjusted rather than pushing through discomfort.
Practical scenario
Scenario: lowering Ari into the cot
Ari is fourteen months old, eleven kilograms, and has fallen asleep on your chest after twenty minutes of rocking. His cot is in a corner with the base on the lowest setting and the side fixed. Another educator is settling two other children across the room.
How do you make this lift as safe as it can be?
Reveal the explanation
Most of the safety was decided before he fell asleep. The base should not be on the lowest setting unless Ari can pull himself to standing; if it is set low for that reason, the cot in the corner is still the worst one to reach into. Now: keep him against your chest, step right in to the rail, bend your knees and hips and lean from the hips with your back straight, and keep him against you until his back is nearly on the mattress. Do not lower from arm's length or twist to get around the corner. Afterwards, ask for the cots to be pulled out from the wall so every one can be approached square on, and settle Ari in the cot rather than in arms next time if the sleep routine allows.
Practical scenario
Scenario: the gate at pick-up
At 5.30 pm a parent arrives and their three-year-old, Priya, refuses to leave. She drops to the floor at the gate, screams and kicks when her mother tries to lift her. The parent asks you to pick her up and pass her over.
What is the safe response?
Reveal the explanation
Do not lift a thrashing child over a gate — you would be holding a kicking fifteen kilograms at arm's length above a barrier, and neither you nor Priya would be safe. Open the gate. Get down to Priya's level, give her a moment and a simple choice, and let her walk when she is ready. If she must be moved, her mother can hold her close and low; you can help by clearing the path and carrying the bag. Talk with the parent about a pick-up routine that avoids the standoff, and mention the pattern to your room leader.
Knowledge check
These questions are for your own learning. They are not part of the final assessment.
1. You are about to lift a toddler from the floor. Which sequence reflects safe practice?
Getting down to the child, warning them, holding securely and bringing them close before standing removes the stooped posture and most of the sudden force. Lifting by the hands or wrists can injure the child's elbow.
2. Two toddlers are crying and reaching up to you at once. What should you do?
A double carry is a high-force, unbalanced lift with no free hand and is a frequent cause of injury. Comfort one child in arms and the other at their level, and get help.
3. Which cot set-up best reduces the manual handling risk when lowering a young infant who cannot yet sit up?
A high base for infants who cannot pull up, a lowered side and clear access all shorten the reach. The base is lowered once the child can sit or pull to standing, because then the fall risk changes.
4. A three-year-old is kicking and screaming on the floor and refuses to move to the mat. There is no immediate danger. The safest response is to:
A thrashing child cannot be held securely and mid-tantrum lifts are how educators are kicked and wrenched. Settle at their level unless immediate safety requires movement, and follow your service's behaviour guidance policy.